Optimized signal quantification

Abstract

A method for optimizing signal quantification comprising applying reversible filters to the signal in order to pre-quantify the signal as a continuous function of the frequency domain; pre-processing the signal in order to place it in the proper colorspace and frequency domain; applying subband transforms to the signal in order to split the signal into frequency regions; and entropy coding the signal. Additionally filters and steps are also provided that enable improved quantification of the signal resulting in improved compression of the resulting signal.

I claim:  
     
       1. A method for optimizing signal quantification comprising: 
       applying reversible filters to the signal in order to quantify the signal so that quantization varies substantially continuously across frequencies and therefore varies within each frequency region such that each discrete quantized value may have a different quantization level as a function of a curve matching a resolution function established by sampling theory;  
       applying subband transforms to the signal wherein the signal is split into frequency regions; and entropy coding the signal.  
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising pre-processing the signal, wherein the step of pre-processing the signal includes converting the colorspace of the signal. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of applying reversible filters to the signal comprises using a quantification filter. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3 , wherein the step of applying subband transforms includes using a subband filter. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of applying reversible filters to the signal is combined with the step of applying subband transforms. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of applying subband transforms includes applying the subband transforms separately by dimension. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the method comprises the further step of calculating a quantification function that approximates the desired signal. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 7 , the method comprising the further step of: 
       designing an exactly continuous filter and its inverse for the calculated quantification function.  
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 8  comprising the further step of: 
       responsive to an inability to design an exact continuous filter and its inverse for the quantification function, designing a filter and its inverse which are bounded by the desired continuous function wherein the desired function is used as a lower bound.  
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the step of dividing signal frequency range into regions created by the step of applying a subband transform to the signal. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 10 , further comprising the step of: 
       using a family of filters to approximated the desired continuous function.  
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 10 , further comprising the step of: 
       using a single filter recursively to approximate the desired continuous function.